Monday, 17 June 2013

Post 9: Cooling babies – saving lives



Cooling babies – saving lives
Brenda Strohm, TOBY children study co-ordinator, meets parents whose son had, birth asphyxia (oxygen deprivation) during birth. Their son was treated with the Cooling method that TOBY Trial pioneered in 2002. After their research they found out that it lowers the risk of death or severe impairment by 50% for babies who are deprived of oxygen during birth. Reducing these babies' body temperature by 3C to 4C for 72 hours is now recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The so called TOBY babies are now called “TOBY Children” and they are being followed up again at school age to evaluate their progress.

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My opinion
This is such good progress, especially because doctors now can save up to a hundred lives in Europe each year. It is a difficult subject for the family because it is so short after birth when the doctors have to get permission from the parents to treat the baby with Cooling. Parents can’t just give permission because they want more information about it. It would be better to actually give the parent information before the birth when she visits the maternity centre. And I think it is a very good thing that the research is funded by the Medical Research Council.

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Newton. (2013, June 7). Cooling babies: saving lives – video.

1 comment:

  1. This shows us that technology has a good side to it. And like you said parents should get the information beforehand so just in case the doctors need to treat the baby with Cooling the parents already know what it is. I also hope that the doctors start to use the Cooling treatment not only in Europe but all around the world.

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